About Me

My life was described by one of my editors as “impossibly exotic” – although really it was not my life, but me, that was the exotic, the uprooted plant, the one who didn’t belong, always living in someone else’s backyard...
Now I am back in Australia, the returning native learning to live where I was born. Writer, traveler, environmentalist. Author of The Isles of Glory trilogy (The Aware, Gilfeather, The Tainted); The Mirage Makers trilogy (Heart of the Mirage, Shadow of Tyr, Song of the Shiver Barrens); The Stormlord trilogy The Last Stormlord, Stormlord Rising, Stormlord's Exile, and writing as Glenda Noramly, a stand-alone book Havenstar. LATEST:
THE FORSAKEN LANDS
A clash of cultures and magic as traders and buccaneers hunt for spices and wealth in the Va-forsaken half of the world ... even as the unidentified darkness of plague and murder stalks their own land.
THE LASCAR'S DAGGER and THE DAGGER'S PATH available worldwide now! Final book, THE FALL OF THE DAGGER out mid-April.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Harriet Klausner under seige

It has just been pointed out to me that Harriet the Prolific is being gunned down big time over on the Amazon.com site. [see here]

It seems a group of disparate people have got together to disparage and shatter the "HK" myth (I kept reading that as Hong Kong which was a bit disconcerting.) They are posting their opinions on the comments section of the latest reviews done by the redoutable Harriet. She did, after all, post 44 reviews for March 11th which does seem, um, a little on the prolific side. And that's not apparently unusual for her. Gives a new definition to speed reading, doesn't it? As one of the commentators points out, it would take her a whole day just to pen the reviews - and that's without reading the books.

What does disconcert me a bit is that the commentators are extraordinarily vitriolic in their comments about the thousands of books "HK" is supposedly reviewing - they are all trash. I am not sure how they come to that amazing conclusion (unless they can do a Harriet and read tens of books a day). Perhaps it is merely the process of being read by Harriet that is sufficient to condemn a book as worthy only of being consigned to a third world loo?

I guess there are just too many supposedly literary types out there to whom the word "genre" implies "evilly bad", and in this case it means science fiction, fantasy, vampires, thrillers, romances, chick lit, detective tales, erotica, police procedurals, media tie-ins, historical novels, family sagas, mysteries, comic novels - in fact everything from "An Irish Country Doctor" to "Speed Dating". Harriet, after all, reads them all...

Quite obviously, there is no single Harriet Klausner doing all this. Which raises the question: who's paying? Would any publisher bother? Why? Does a Harriet Klausner review carry such weight that it would boost sales? Are they kidding? (The average author reaction to any Amazon review, let alone Harriet's, is that they make very little difference one way or another.)

There is one thing the commentators have got right, though. This shouldn't happen.

This kind of "reviewing" is dishonest, it devalues all reader reviews and makes a mockery of the whole process. Every genuine reader reviewer out there should be up in arms - it insults them. The whole thing is unworthy of Amazon or anyone else involved.

12 comments:

I read an interview with her at some point, via the Locus webpage I think. Anyhow. I think it has reached the point where there are serious questions raised about the legitimacy of the reviews.

But it's offensive to me that other people would trash a book just because she reviewed it, whoever she is these days. It's not the writer's fault. We have no say over who passes a public opinion about our work.

I think she's real and even posts the "reviews," which are only useful to me as the plot summaries they are. There's no value to me in reviews from someone who gives everything 4-5 stars on Amazon. To me this implies (a) has no opinion, (b) doesn't know how to use a 5-point scale, or (c) dishonesty. I always figured she "likes/loves" all books to keep getting free review copies from publishers. I remember reading a blog from someone who was let go from a publisher; the blogger complained that HK called her up solely to find out how she'd keep getting free books! How thoughtful of HK.

The Guardian seems more skeptical, but not enough. I'm baffled the author of that article went to Amazon just to see who was a top reviewer (again, prolific--not necessarily useful!) just to find out what book to buy a friend. It reads like fake backstory to bolster a weak article.

I'm pretty sure she's real too, Kendall, and I think she started out reading the books she "reviewed" as well. But I doubt that is still true. She even seems to have widened the types of genre she reviews, and the writing style of the review seems to fluctuate widely.

For February she reviewed 202 books. That's 7.2 a day for 28 days. Plus writing the review. Hmm. Even in her interviews she never claimed that many.

She seems to be doing even better for March In the first 11 days she put up reviews of 168 books. That's 15.2 books a day.

I was actually more disturbed by the strange vitriol of the commentators towards the books that she reviewed...especially as I have also been reviewed by the incredible Harriet!

Perhaps Harriet has set up an atelier where she has hack reviewers perched at Dickensian desks all scribbling or typing away, and she just puts her name to the finished product and collects her fee. Though I suppose she might call it a 'school' of reviewing. :oD

Why jo pleb should be reviling the books that get reviewed makes no sense to me at all. I mean, were there evidence that authors actually did pay to have 'Harriet' grind out a review for them, it might be grounds for wondering what drove them to such a desperate measure (heh) - but that doesn't rule out the possibility that the book itself might still be an unrecognised masterpiece.

I am one of those individuals who has posted numerous comments regarding Harriet's reviews. Hopefully I have not thrashed the books themselves.

My most recent comments are focused strictly on the quality of her reviews rather than the books. My comments are becoming more constructive rather than destructive.

I agree with all the comments here. It is impossible for any one person to read that many books and post reviews for them. I do not think Harriet is a plot by publishers. On the other hand, I could see Harriet posting a summary written by a publisher, but her reviews are so awful that that explanation seems unlikely too. I think it is more likely that "Harriet" is actually multiple reviewers working together. Some of "Harriet's" reviews seem very different in style than others. Some are absolutely horrendous and others are readable. I am guessing that "Harriet" is actually up to ten people, possibly all women, working together.

Glenda Larke said: What does disconcert me a bit is that the commentators are extraordinarily vitriolic in their comments about the thousands of books "HK" is supposedly reviewing - they are all trash.

No specific cases given, just as I thought. That is because the following: "commentators are extraordinarily vitriolic in their comments about the thousands of books "HK" is supposedly reviewing" simply isn't true.

I have posted many comments on Harriet Klausner's reviews. I've never confused the review with the book under review. On three different review comment sites authors weighed in with their opinions on HK's authenticity.

What led me to her reviews initially is because she was reviewing some of my favorite authors, and doing a poor job of it, in my estimation. She has reviewed Gail Godwin, Paul Auster, M.C. Beaton,and many, many others whose writing I enjoy tremendously.

Not all of Harriet Klausner's critics have pure motives, however.Some are there to attempt to bring her down so that they may rise in the rankings. They are some of her most vitriolic critics.

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BEST FANTASY NOVEL OF THE YEAR Shortlisted Finalist2003: for The Aware; 2004: for The Tainted; 2006: for Heart of the Mirage; 2007: for The Song of the Shiver Barrens; 2009: for The Last Stormlord 2010: for Stormlord Rising 2011: for Stormlord's Exile 2014: The Lascar's Dagger 2015: The Dagger's Path 2016: The Fall of the Dagger